Posted
by
Soulskill
on Wednesday May 18, 2011 @01:51PM
from the we'll-get-right-on-that dept.

angry tapir writes "With cybercrime now the second largest criminal activity in the world, measures such as the creation of an 'Internet Interpol' and better cooperation between international law enforcement agencies are needed if criminals are to be curtailed in the future, Kaspersky Labs founder and security expert Eugene Kaspersky has argued. He said, 'We were talking about that 10 years ago and almost nothing has happened. Sooner or later we will have one. I am also talking about Internet passports and having an online ID. Some countries are introducing this idea, so maybe in 15 years we will all have it.'"

As someone who's livelihood comes from the prosecution of child porn, you have no idea.

First off, child porn is something that can be prosecuted. The botnet creator in Romania cannot be prosecuted and is actively being protected by their government. No point in trying to go after them.

Then there are the credit card theives. They get your number and use it and you have to... cancel the card. Well, because you're not out anything, the merchant has insurance and the credit card companies don't want to prosecute there is no point. So nobody is going after them either.

Then there are the folks selling fake pills and claiming to be in Canada when they are really in Indonesia. Well, if the Indonesian government isn't interested and is likely going to shield them, there isn't any way to go after them.

It goes on an on. Either there is nobody to prosecute or it is happening across borders with a disinterested government at the other end. The FBI has plenty of weight to throw around, but before they bring all of their focus on some international perp everyone needs to be on board with it being the "right" target - and that is very difficult to achieve. Unless of course the guy is out there on IRC bragging.

Well, I guess that leaves child porn and a few other things, like massive copyright violation. That is the day for an FBI forensic examiner. Mostly it is child porn because there is so much of it out there and nobody wants to stand up for someone involved in it. Especially when they start taking pictures and distributing them, which is how many people are caught. Forgetting to turn off the geotagging on your iPhone can be really, really embarassing. Especially when you answer the doorbell and find an FBI agent with a GPS receiver saying "Yes, it was right here" to his partner.